


Fool's Gold

by al-the-remix (only_blue)



Series: Mpreg Works [7]
Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Dragons, Historical Fantasy, Knights - Freeform, Lactation Kink, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-20
Updated: 2020-05-20
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:26:45
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24293572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/only_blue/pseuds/al-the-remix
Summary: If someone had asked him a day ago what he thought it would be like to be held prisoner by a dragon, Sid never would have guessed it would be this boring.
Relationships: Sidney Crosby/Evgeni Malkin
Series: Mpreg Works [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1744360
Comments: 22
Kudos: 154





	Fool's Gold

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to sevenfists for catching all my spelling errors better than grammarly does ;)

The halls of the fortress filled with a clamour. All around him men battled, deafening Sid’s ears with the clash of steel as they came together; the triumphant roars of the victors landing their blows and the screams of the losers rang out. To Sid’s left, a soldier came barreling towards him, his tunic marked with the crest of a house to the east. His armour was neglected and appearance scruffy. Sid secured his stance. 

They traded jabs and thrusts of their swords with lethal intent. It was hard to fight in the cramped enclosure of the hallway, and Sid used his body weight to throw the man as much as he could when he allowed Sid close. The man paired him blow for blow, but it was only a matter of time until Sid found his opening, and when he did he lunged with deadly speed, catching his opponent off guard. Sid knocked him off balance, sending him to his knees. Gripping his long sword tight, Sid smote the man over the head and continued down the hall without looking back. 

There was no time to waste. The tide was slowly turning in their favour and Sid refused to be overrun. Turning the corner, Sid caught another foreign soldier running up a narrow stairwell and sent him tumbling back down again with a deft blow to the chest with his boot. 

The battle waged. Sid had been hired to protect the castle and the inhabitants inside the fortress walls and that’s what he was planning on doing. It was gruelling work. Metallurg had lost many of its soldiers recently, their army slowly dwindling and leaving the walls vulnerable to intruders. 

Metallurg’s forces pushed the enemy back to the fields that surrounded the ramparts. Sid parried a blow, fighting on even though his muscles burned. Bodies lay slumped, blood as dark as midnight seeping from between the chinks of their armour as if their very souls leaked pitch. In the distance, a bugle sounded, one long note, wavering and strung with defeat. The army retreated. 

Sid didn’t relax, not for a second; you never knew when you were about to be caught off guard. He circled the battlefield checking for survivors, flagging down soldiers to take the ones that could be healed as prisoners and putting the rest out of their misery. There was very little honor in death. 

Someone came up beside him and Sid turned sharply, making the page flinch. 

“You’re wanted in the great hall.”

+

Sid knelt before the king, sword sheathed at his waist and head bent. 

The king sat in his throne, drumming his fingers against the metal. He did not tell Sid to stand. “You have served us admirably, displaying valour and leadership beyond what we had hired you for.” 

“Thank you, Your Majesty,” Sid said reflexively before the king continued. 

“We have one more task for you before we send you on your way, if you’ll accept it.” 

Sid lifted his head to make it clear he was listening, watching as the king stood from his throne and paced the marble floor in front of it. 

The throne itself was shiny dark metal, the only thing gleaming and new compared to the wear that was obvious in the rest of the castle, time slowly working away at its structure. 

“I’m sure you’ve heard the rumours surrounding Prince Malkin’s disappearance. I’m afraid the true circumstances are far more dire than any abduction by a neighbouring clan. For a month now we have sent our finest soldiers after him, but none have returned alive. The reason for that being his abductor was no man but a beast that came in the night. A dragon.”

 _A dragon!_ Sid worked hard to temper his excitement. He had never seen a dragon before but he had heard many stories. If the prince had been taken by one it was a severe situation that would need all of Sid’s focus. But still-- _a real dragon--_

“I accept,” Sid said, and the king paused in his pacing, turning to Sid with a smile that curled the sides of his lips. 

“If you return him to us, your compensation will be great. But be wary, dragons are clever creatures and won’t hesitate to be devious, keep your guard up and return the prince to us directly.”

“Of course.”

Sid’s horse was waiting for him in the stables. He tacked up right away, strapping everything he’d need for his journey to the saddle. There was no time to waste; who knew if the prince was even alive. Sid had never actually seen the prince, just heard the rumours that normally travelled between servants. Apparently Malkin had been brought to the castle from his rural village to the north, deep in the mountains. There were whispers of him being a magic user, and that that was why he had been brought to the castle.

Sid preferred to travel by back roads, through fields, and by the shelter of the forest trees. The mountains were a blue haze in the distance, wrapping around the valley like a thorny crown. He moved through village after village on his way to the far reaches of the farming plains. Each one he passed looked more and more downtrodden, beaten by the elements and pillagers and hunger. The thatched roofs of the houses were frayed and in need of repair. There was no one to protect them out here besides old men and boys so young they’d wet their armour. Magnitogorsk’s defences were weak. Sid turned away and kept moving. 

Sid thought he had been helping the people by protecting the king but maybe that wasn’t the case. He hadn’t been here for long, after all. Sid never stayed in one place for very long. 

He finally reached the foot of the mountains at nightfall, as the setting sun bled oranges and purples across the sky. Sid began the steep ride up the narrow mountain path, weaving along the edge. Soon it became too narrow and Sid dismounted. He’d have to go the rest of the way by foot. Having no choice, he found a small cave and set up a rig to hitch his horse to. He continued up the path with only the essentials. A haze of stars adorned the night sky once he reached the top, and the air was still and deadly silent, almost peaceful. Sid didn’t know what he’d expected. 

He hoisted his shield over his shoulder and gripped his torch. The cloth wrapped around the tip filled his nostrils with the scent of resin. Sid pulled his flint from the purse tied to his belt, lighting the torch with a _whoosh_ of bright flames. 

Embers danced in the night air, disappearing into the mouth of the cave when he stood. It yawned wide, its gullet dark as lamp-black. Sharp rocks jutted from the edge like teeth. Sid thrust his torch out in front of him, sword held securely in the grasp of the other hand. He wanted to go in and out as quietly as he could, but he was prepared to fight if he had to. 

Stepping forth into the gloom, Sid steeled himself. He remembered when hunting monsters had been as simple as running around the woods with a fish knife strapped to his belt. But those monsters had only been as real as his childhood imagination would allow. Images taken from his nightmares and used as a game. This didn’t feel like a game. 

The air did not remain still for long. Sid’s nose filled with a stench greater than just the burning torch, and he swung it around. Along the wall of the cave, festering bodies lay charred and bent, their forms warped with a fire so hot it had melted their eyes from their sockets. It was a clear warning: do not travel any farther if you want to live. Sid ignored it. 

He kept his steps quiet and deliberate, toe to heel like he’d do if he was stalking a deer in the woods. The cave felt like it stretched on forever, nothing but darkness surrounding him. Sid never thought about what would happen if he never actually _found_ Malkin or the dragon--

Distantly, a sound echoed off the rocks. Sid froze, listening carefully. There was a long pause and then it came again, the sound of a baby’s wail. Fear now mixed with Sid’s earlier resolve. If there was a child here, it was in peril, too. Just how many people had the dragon stolen away? There was another fuss followed by a quiet whimper. The baby seemed so close, wherever they were. Sid pressed on, emboldened by the discovery. He felt no fear for himself, just for the innocents locked away in this stone prison. 

Sid followed the bend in the cave, coming around the corner to be met with a pale face. It appeared in front of him from out of nowhere and Sid thought his heart might have stopped beating altogether as he just barely managed not to scream. 

“Help me,” the face said, and for a second Sid feared it must be a ghost.

“Prince Malkin?” Sid asked, and the figure stepped closer to him, his face clear in the glow of Sid’s torchlight.

“Yes, it’s me.” His fingers touched the side of Sid’s face, and Sid’s heart started beating rapidly again. Malkin’s eyes were big and imploring, like reflective pools. “Take me home.”

Just how long had the prince been kept inside, Sid wondered. His skin was papery white, like skeleton leaves. Sid sucked in a shivery breath, steeling his resolve. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “But we can’t leave yet. I heard the sound of a baby crying.”

The prince’s face went blank, his eyes hard. “There’s no one else here, just me. The dragon will be back soon.”

Sid chewed his lip, conflicted. He was positive about what he had heard, but this place was magic. He had been warned about how dragons liked to play mind games; maybe this was just a lure and Sid had fallen for it. Every second they lingered, they were at risk of getting caught, and it was his duty to return the prince to safety, but Sid could not in good faith ignore the possible plight of a child. 

Sid unshouldered his shield and handed it to Malkin. “My horse is in a small cave at the bottom, where the mountain path narrows. Go there and wait for me. There is enough food and bread and blankets for overnight. If I haven’t returned by morning, leave without me, for I’m probably dead. Or have just done a poor job.” Sid smiled in what he hoped was a reassuring way. “Go now.”

Malkin nodded and turned to go. Sid watched him leave for a moment before continuing his path, his ears pricked for that sound of crying. The cave narrowed, bending in a U, leading Sid into a secluded chamber. There was a small fire going in the corner. _This is where it must have kept the prince_ , he thought. Scattered belongings littered the floor, no doubt left by prisoners. Sid wondered if they had all been doomed to the same charred fate. 

There was the sound of the babe again but closer and undistorted by the echo of the tunnel. Sid paused. The sound had a raspy quality to it, almost like a trill. Sid cocked his head. The sound came again, layered like there was more than one source. Glittering trinkets were piled at the back of the room, and sitting at the center was a large knot of softer material, torn bits of fabric, tapestries and carpets, even animal hides. Sid crept up to it, standing on his toes to carefully peer over the edge. _A nest._

Inside were three baby dragons, their scales glimmering vivid jewel tones in the torchlight. Sid couldn’t believe his eyes. Baby dragons! Had anyone ever been so lucky? Well… maybe not so lucky; if there were babies, the mother wouldn’t be far. Sid would do well to leave with haste--but, just one more look. They were hard to leave. Sid had never seen a dragon before, but he had heard many stories. He knew them to be fearsome creatures and worthy of all the awe and respect they inspired. Some didn’t think so kindly of them, but looking down at the babies, it was hard to imagine hating anything so wondrous. And admittedly, cute. 

Cautiously, Sid reached out a finger. One of the babies stretched its neck out, sniffing at his finger, and Sid stroked it along the fringed back of its ruby-coloured spine. It was small enough to fit in both his palms and it trilled softly, blinking up at Sid. The one beside it burped up a little puff of smoke before curling back against its sibling like a kitten. Sid felt laughter bubble up from his chest unbidden. 

A noise behind him sent a cold frisson down his spine. Sid's heart beat like a hammer to metal as he turned, slowly.

He was met with the gold face of the dragon, full-grown and hauntingly beautiful. It blinked one reptilian eye at Sid and let out a growl that threatened to collapse the whole cave. 

"I'm sorry," Sid said. It was silly, but it was the only thing that came to mind. "I won't hurt you or your kin, I promise."

 _“Do you know how many times men have made those promises,”_ the dragon hissed. _“If I let you go you could tell them where I live, tell them that I have babies. They would bring their pitchforks in a wave of hatred.”_

“I would never do that,” Sid said. 

_“Give me one good reason not to eat you.”_

+

Across the room from him, the dragon curled up quietly. It appeared to be sleeping--its scaly eyelids were closed--but Sid had a distinct feeling that wasn’t the case. _Maybe this is a test,_ he thought. It was probably waiting to see if Sid would try to escape. Or try and attack it. Sid just sighed and continued scribbling into the earthy floor of the cave with a stick. If someone had asked him a day ago what he thought it would be like to be held prisoner by a dragon, Sid never would have guessed it would be this boring. 

Sid scratched out a poor rendition of his horse and caught the dragon’s ear twitch. He was getting really tired of the pretence. 

“Do you have a name?” Sid asked, and waited as the dragon’s ear twitched again. One eyelid peeled away to reveal a deep brown eye, like polished mahogany. It yawned wide like a cat, tongue flexing, and Sid barely resisted rolling his eyes. The dragon studied him for a while and Sid tried his best not to fidget under the assessing gaze. He had taken off some of his armour to sit more comfortably, but maybe that had been a mistake. 

_“They don’t have a name for me where you come from?”_ the dragon asked instead of answering his question. 

“They do, a few in fact, but I don’t think those are what you’d want to be called,” Sid replied cautiously. 

The dragon snorted out a puff of smoke and looked away from him. Sid thought if a dragon could chuckle that was probably as close as it got. 

_“My name is Zhenya_ , _”_ it said, and Sid rolled the name over in his head. _Zhenya,_ it was a nice name, fit for a dragon. 

“I like it,” he decided. 

_“I’m glad you approve,”_ Zhenya said, and Sid got the distinct feeling he was getting laughed at again.

Sid shifted in place. His ass was starting to go numb. He stood up, stretching slowly as not to make any sudden movements. His entire body ached from lying against the wall overnight. Sid pulled his jerkin back down into place and began pacing a strip to get some feeling back in his limbs. _The prince must be gone by now,_ Sid thought, hoping that it was true and he had followed Sid’s instructions. That he was safely on his way back to the castle, his travel unimpeded. That’s all Sid could do: hope.

_“I’ve never had a knight ask for my name before,”_ Zhenya said, cutting into Sid’s thoughts. 

“Most knights are not as good at their job as I am,” Sid said with a grin. He wasn’t unaware of the reputation he held. Sid knew his name held weight across the land; he’d been hired by many different lords and kings to do many different jobs, and he never failed. 

_“You are my captive, are you not?”_

“Yes, but I’m not dead, am I?” Sid counted that as a victory. 

Zhenya harrumphed, sending dust scattering across the floor and up Sid’s nose; he coughed. _“I still haven’t decided whether to eat you yet, my children are sure to get hungry.”_

Sid swallowed, stopping his pacing. “You don’t have anything else to eat? You can’t hunt?” He could feel the hole in his own stomach gnawing away and he wasn’t even a third the size of a dragon. 

_“I won’t leave my children alone with you,”_ Zhenya said, levelling Sid with an icy stare. 

“You can take me with you,” Sid said quickly. He’d love to see a dragon hunt in real life, maybe even get to fly--

_“What, so you can just escape when I’m not looking? Ha!”_

Sid frowned. He wouldn’t do that. As far as Sid was concerned, his job with the king was done. But how was Zhenya supposed to know? 

“I could help.”

 _“Don’t need help,”_ Zhenya said, and uncurled to stand. Sid had to bow his neck back to look the dragon in the eye. _“Have better plan for you.”_

 _The better plan_ was having Sid chain himself to the wall, the iron cuff heavy around his ankle. He wasn’t looking forward to spending another undisclosed amount of time sitting on his sore tailbone. Zhenya left without a backwards glance. Technically Sid _could_ stand up and move around but it wasn’t easy with the chain dragging behind him. He sighed and closed his eyes. There wasn’t really anything to do but nap. 

Sid drifted for a bit, letting his mind wander aimlessly, until there was a scuffling sound from the other side of the room. Sid opened one eye. To his right, three little heads peeked out from over the lip of the nest. One of the baby dragons was poised half out of the nest and frozen in place. Sid closed his eyes again. There was more scrabbling and the sound of claws on stone, and then it got very quiet. He felt the faint brush of something against his finger, a little puff of air. He held very still and opened his eyes again. 

Beside his leg was the little dragon with deep red scales sniffing at his hands. Its siblings waited a few paces back, wary still. Sid twitched his finger just to see what would happen and the dragon flinched but didn’t scurry away. They were like skittish barn cats. He held out his finger like he had before, only really thinking about what would happen if it bit him after the dragon was leaning forward to sniff at him again. It allowed him to pet the top of its head again and carefully along its back until it must have deemed Sid altogether unthreatening and crawled onto his lap. It was followed by its green sibling and then the smallest with shimmering blue scales, and then Sid had a lap full of baby dragons with needle-like claws. The red one crawled up his chest, making Sid wince, and settled in the warm spot in the crook of his neck and shoulder. It trilled happily and the others curled up together in his lap, and Sid was pinned by the heat of three small bodies. He let his eyes drift shut again, this time falling quickly to sleep. 

Sid woke to hot breath on his face and jerked awake, then flinched when three sets of small pointy claws dug into his skin. When he opened his eyes he was faced with the snout of a much larger, far less content dragon than the three still blanketing him. 

“Hi,” Sid whispered. “Good hunting?”

Zhenya snorted in his face and turned, sending the key skittering over the floor. _“I guess that was pointless.”_

Sid didn’t hesitate to undo the cuff around his ankle, even when it was met with a chorus of protesting chirps. The babies seemed to realize then that Zhenya was back and slunk away from Sid, but didn’t go as far as getting back into their nest. Sid stood, stretching out his limbs, and walked over to inspect what Zhenya had caught. 

The dragon had brought back a burly-looking mountain goat. Sid skinned and cut a portion for himself with his knife, rolling up his sleeves and shoving pieces of meat onto a stick to cook over the fire. The little blue dragon came over to lick the blood off his hand with the rasp of its tongue and Sid bit off a small piece of meat and held it out for it to take, aware of Zhenya’s eyes on him.

There was a gold plate with an etched rim sitting on the floor by the nest and Sid grabbed it to put his cooked bits of meat on. The meat was tough and not what Sid was accustomed to, but he ate it readily. He studied the edge of the plate as he ate; he was sure it looked familiar. He inspected it more closely. “Did you steal this from the castle?”

 _“I stole nothing,”_ Zhenya huffed. The dragon had the rest of the carcass in his clutches, tearing strips off of it and throwing his head back to swallow, _quite like a bird,_ Sid thought. 

Sid was skeptical. “Well, they look very expensive.”

_“You must have fine things if you are as accomplished a knight as the stories say you are.”_

“Only my sword, my shield, and my armour, everything else goes to food and shelter and my family.” Sid shrugged with one shoulder. “I have a fondness for simple things,” he explained. “And magical ones.” Sid reached out and touched the blue dragon’s side gently, petting its warm scales. Zhenya was still watching him like a hawk and they seemed so delicate when they were this small. 

“I hope you know I wouldn’t hurt them,” Sid added, feeling the vibrations as the small dragon started to purr. 

_“Do you have children?”_ Zhenya asked, skeptical.

“No, well--not that I know of.” Sid laughed, scratching his nose. “But I have a younger sister, my own people to take care of.” He thought about the rest of his payment sitting at the castle and sighed. He didn’t really deserve it now. Maybe if Zhenya ever let him go, the dragon would let Sid take a plate with him or two. 

“My business is done with the kingdom. I was supposed to take care of the prince and I failed my task by not bringing him back myself and ensuring his safety.” 

_“The prince? He will be fine,”_ Zhenya assured, and blew a tuft of smoke from his nostrils. _“He’s much smarter than you.”_

Sid grumbled and watched Zhenya suck a whole haunch of meat into his mouth and spit out the bone, entirely clean. 

“I guess wherever he is it’s better than being kept prisoner by a dragon,” Sid mused. 

He watched the dragon bristle, the fringe along his spine ruffling in displeasure. 

_“I don’t keep prisoners here--”_

Sid raised his eyebrows and not so subtly looked over at the metal chain that lay in the corner. 

_“You’re a special case,”_ Zhenya snipped. _“I just want to be left alone, in peace.”_

Sid sighed. He could feel this conversation going in circles but he had no one else to talk to. “Then why take the prince in the first place?” 

_“I did not take the prince, he came to me,”_ Zhenya hissed. 

Sid leaned forward where he sat. That didn’t make any sense. “Why would he do that? Come live in a cave at the top of a mountain and leave the safety of a castle--”

 _“He was not safe or free!”_ Zhenya roared. He seemed to glow in the low light, catching the reflection of the fire. Sid suppressed a shiver. _“They locked him away in a tower, he escaped!”_

Sid mulled over what he had just been told. It was true: during his time in Magnitogorsk, Sid had heard very little of the prince, and seen him even less. In fact, now that he was thinking about it, Sid struggled to dredge up one occasion where he had seen the prince at all. And that was all besides the murk of rumours and gossip that surrounded him in the courts. Over the years, there had been lots of stories of magical children being brought to the castle to be tutored, but Sid had never examined it much deeper than that. 

He examined Zhenya carefully. Sid had never heard of a dragon to be so protective of a human nor so passionate about their freedom. Sid cocked his head. “You say Malkin wasn’t a prisoner, free to roam.”

_“Yesss,”_

“Then why did he leave? Unless he hasn’t left at all,” Sid countered, studying Zhenya closely. “Unless maybe, he’s been here the whole time.”

Zhenya’s head reared back, letting out a small wisp of flames. _“Maybe you’re not as stupid as I thought,”_ the dragon said, and stood, the edges of his form taking a hazy appearance. 

Sid watched in awe as the dragon he had become accustomed to seemed to melt before his eyesand shimmer back into detail like gold dust, leaving the man standing in front of him looking like he was outlined in fire for a moment. 

The prince stood, more realized than the ghostly image Sid had seen in the tunnels. He was tall and lithe, skin warm and eyes the same deep brown they had been as a dragon. He looked strong and naked, very _naked--_

Sid’s eyes lingered on Zhenya’s chest and he swallowed.

"You're--uh--your chest it's, um," Sid waved his finger in the general direction of where Zhenya's nippleswere leaking. Leaking _gold--_

"Oh." Zhenya looked down at himself and cursed softly in a foreign language, dragging his thumb along the trail that had begun to drip down his belly. Sid watched him as he made a trilling sound in the back of his throat and the three small dragons scurried after him as he crawled into the nest with _his babies._

Sid stared at the fire, still trying to process. Maybe this wouldn’t be as boring an experience as he thought. 

+

Sid couldn’t sleep. He spent the whole night thinking about what he had seen. The dragon--the _prince_ had escaped the castle to have his children. The implications of what that meant sent his brain spinning in circles. Someone had sired them with Zhenya. He wondered if any of the other magical children that had grown up in the castle were dragons. If Zhenya had escaped sometime before and met someone. Someone magical, someone _human--_

Sid rolled over on the floor, curling up on his side. His skin felt hot and itchy thinking about it as the same images played over and over again in his head, punctuated with the slow drip of gold leaking from Zhenya’s nipples. He rolled over onto his front, pressing his face into the stray fabric he had wedged under his head, breathing in its musty scent. He wormed his hand between his hips and the floor, pressing his groin tight to his palm, helplessly rubbing at his cock through his clothes, face hot from his own breath as he tried to smother his noises. 

Sid humped against his own hand until his core burned with need and effort, his hair sticking to his temples with sweat. He was filled with a restlessness and not even the thought of other people in the room could stop him from rocking his hips hastily as he grew rigid and ready to spill. Sid imagined being caught, Zhenya the human, Zhenya the _dragon--_ curling his hot tongue between Sid’s legs and letting Sid fuck against it the way he did now untill he came, shivering through it. His breeches would be crusty in the morning and stiff with his release, but finally Sid’s eyes began to droop. 

Zhenya didn’t come out of his nest until late the next day. Time was hard to keep track of, stuck inside a cave with no sunlight. Sid guessed it was close to the afternoon by the way his stomach grumbled. There were a few bits of cooked meat left that Sid had eaten in the middle of the night. 

He watched Zhenya crawl out from the nest, followed by his children. Sitting on the ground, Zhenya picked at the bones, cracking them open for the marrow. Sid poked at the embers of the fire and tried not to stare too obviously when the green dragon crawled into Zhenya’s lap and nosed at him. Sid watched in fascination as Zhenya lay back and cradled the dragon to his chest. There was no good view without obviously getting up and moving closer. Zhenya curled around his baby by the fire and the other two little dragons scurried over to lie with him. He fell back asleep on the floor, his figure growing hazy until the dragon was lying there in front of Sid, snoring soundly. 

The next few days passed in a similar fashion. From what Sid could tell, Zhenya spent a lot of time sleeping and hunting and not doing all that much else. He no longer chained Sid up when he left the cave, which was an improvement. This way Sid could pass his time inspecting the caves and Zhenya’s trinkets, all the while followed by a trail of three small dragons. It wasn’t a bad life, not in the least. 

One afternoon Zhenya came back to the cave, four rabbits clutched in his jaws. He dropped them by Sid’s feet and sighed in only a way a dragon could, hot and smoky. Sid coughed. “Slow goings?” he asked. 

The fringe on Zhneya’s back bristled with the rest of him. _“It takes a lot of energy to go hunt and every time I leave I risk being seen. I’m not accustomed to feeding a whole other person.”_

Sid didn’t think it would be a good idea to mention the fact that he wouldn't be here if it wasn’t for Zhenya. Then again, Sid was overcome with the irrational fear that Zhenya might just ask him to leave. It should be what he wanted, but--

“Let me go for you,” Sid offered. Zhenya still looked wary.

Before Sid could overthink it, he walked over to where Zhenya had put his sword and grabbed it. Sid walked up to him and Zhenya straightened, eyeing the weapon. Sid knelt, offering his sword to Zhenya like he’d offered it to the king. “I promise you can trust my word, it's my highest honour and here, this is my second. My sword.” When his words were met with silence, he kept going. “I told you when you asked me to give you a reason not to eat me that I would protect you, so let me. Let me do this.”

There was a hot gust of breath that drifted down the back of Sid’s neck, making him shiver, then Zhenya’s voice, gravelly and amused in his ear. _“Fine, go. If you’re going to be melodramatic.”_

Sid grinned. He had a mission. 

+

Fog hung low like a blanket over the forest floor. Early morning sunlight filtered through it, turning the air almost blue with mist. Sid had been trailing a deer’s path since daybreak. He made his way slowly and steadily, the same as he had done many times before. There was no benefit to rushing things; it was far too easy to get over confident and sloppy. Sid wouldn’t be making those kinds of mistakes. He’d promised Zhenya he’d bring something back with him and that’s what Sid was planning to do.

His horse had been where he’d left it. Sid realized Zhenya had taken the time to set up somewhere for it to feed and drink. He didn’t know when Zhenya had done that, probably in the night. Maybe Zhenya didn’t trust Sid all the way yet. Despite that, Sid felt he could trust Zhenya. It was a funny thing, trusting a dragon. But that was how Sid felt all the same. 

Pushing the matter from his mind, Sid took a deep breath of fresh air, drawing in the scent of the forest; the moss and the dew on the pine trees. It was nice to finally be back out in open air, feeling the sun on his face. Sid followed the tracks to the edge of a meadow, stopping to survey from the tree line. Lush grasses and ferns grew thick, glowing yellow in the sunlight, insects hummed languidly in the heat. There, standing highlighted was a buck, six shiny points on its head. Sid stood as still as dawn itself, never wavering as he drew his arrow back to anchor the nock at his cheek. He took another deep breath and released on the exhale, knowing the arrow would land true from the second the feathers brushed his skin.

The arrow found its mark, right behind the front leg. Sid dropped his bow, satisfied, and went to go follow the blood trail. When he found the deer, he pulled out his knife. It would only take him one trip to pack out the deer with his horse, but he didn’t need the head. Sid had been able to find some rope lying around Zhenya’s cave and it was enough to secure the body to his saddle. On the trip in, Sid had taken the time to stop and set up snares along the way, hoping if they didn’t prove to be fruitful on his journey back, he might even be allowed to go out and check them another day. He caught a rabbit in one, the rest were still set and empty. If it wasn’t devoured immediately, he might even be able to try smoking it. It would be good to preserve some of the meat if he was planning on staying in the cave much longer and with every day Sid was hoping there would be more to come. 

It was a slow walk back up the mountain with his spoils, leading his horse. It was easier to get the horse to the top by foot when he wasn’t in a rush. He took the time to think about the implications of staying with the dragon and his kin, Sid didn’t feel as conflicted as he probably should. He was happy there. Sid was ravenous by the time he reached his destination. And sweaty. He undid the laces of his jerkin, dropping it to the side, and peeled his shirt from his skin. It was yellow and smelled soured. Sid tossed it in a corner. He was sure he could probably find another one in the cave somewhere to cover up. Not that Zhenya would probably care; he sat by the fire, naked as he had been every day since his identity had been revealed. 

“Impressive,” Zhenya said when Sid dropped his spoils on the ground by the fire, the baby dragons scuttling over to chirp curiously at what Sid had brought them. 

He pulled out his knife from his belt once again to cut up the deer. Zhenya watched him closely. Sid didn’t know how he preferred to eat like this, but he didn’t stop Sid from butchering the carcass, and when Sid separated one of the hind legs from the rest of the body at the hip joint Zhenya reached over and dragged it to his side of the fire. He didn’t seem to need to cook the meat, even like this, tearing off chunks with his teeth and feeding some to the small dragons who gathered around him. 

Sid watched, curious, as Zhenya fed them. Every once in a while one would come over and inspect what Sid was doing with his portion and Sid would feed them slivers of cooked meat. He wondered if he was just imagining it or if they had really gotten bigger during the time he was there. 

Zhenya didn’t watch him with the same wariness that had been present even a day ago. They ate in companionable silence, the babies eating more than both of the men combined. Zhenya dragged what was left off into a dark corner, to do what with, Sid didn’t know. Maybe bury it. 

He wasn’t really expecting a thanks, which was good, because he didn’t get one. Instead, he watched as Zhenya made to crawl into his nest. He looked back, trilling at his children when they didn’t come right away. Sid sat wide-eyed as the dragons hesitated, looking torn. The red one moved toward the nest to follow its mother, then paused and trilled at Sid as if telling him to hurry up, the other two hovering around it. 

Sid looked between the baby dragons and Zhenya, perched on the lip of the nest and frowning. Zhenya gave an uncertain warble and when his children didn’t move further he said, “fine, you can come, if you wish,” and disappeared inside the nest. 

Sid stood and followed the dragons as they scurried after Zhenya over the lip. It was warm and insulated inside, deeper than Sid had expected and soft. He sat himself against the rim and watched the three babies curl up together to one side, resting. 

Zhenya sat across from him. He wasn't paying Sid any attention, prodding gently at his chest. His nipples looked shiny, like the milk had leaked and dried, creating a crust. A fresh dribble leaked down his chest as he prodded at himself and Sid had to swallow against the wetness building in the back of his throat. Sid looked away only to realize that Zhenya had caught him watching, raising a brow. 

“What about...” Sid made a vague gesture to his chest region, feeling his face heat as he did. He tried to cover up his embarrassment by asking a question but couldn’t finish his sentence.This was ridiculous. To see a mother feeding was not an uncommon sight. Maybe in the courts he spent his time protecting now, but Sid had grown up far away from there, in a small fishing village by the sea. He had seen a lot in his time, experienced many things during his travels that would make a sailor blush, but never this. He didn’t know how to feel. 

“They can eat meat now,” Zhenya explained, “don't need me so much anymore.” He seemed sad, and Sid’s heart panged silently for him. Every parent would fear the day their child grew and left the roost. Zhenya turned to Sid with a roguish smile. “My body doesn’t know, still do this even though they don’t need.”

Sid stared at Zhenya’s filled-out chest, round and plush. For a second he scolded himself for being rude--he shouldn’t be staring like that--but Zhenya didn’t seem to mind at all. He happily sat naked in the warmth of the fire, insulated by his nest, the babies curled together and sleeping peacefully in the other corner. Sid was still resolutely in his breeches even though they made him sweat. 

Another trickle of shimmering liquid leaked down the side of Zhenya’s torso. Sid traced its path with his eyes. 

“Seems like a waste,” Sid said aloud, and instantly regretted it when Zhenya turned a sharp eye to him. He hadn’t meant to. He looked down at his own bowl, but it was empty. He felt his stomach grumble. 

"Come." Zhenya gestured for him to move closer. “You too.” 

Sid’s cheeks glowed thinking of the implication, of the way it had set him off the last time he had seen Zhenya leak like that. “I _can’t_.”

“It’s not like they use, and--” Zhenya said, and it was his turn to look bashful, “It’s sore.”

Sid’s face reddened further. There was another protest on his lips but he squashed it. Maybe it was a great honour, and Sid didn’t want to seem rude in refusing. Moving silently across the bed of soft, torn fabric, curling over Zhenya, he pressed his hand to Zhenya’s bare side, thumb catching the droplet and trailing it back up until he was just caressing under the gentle curve of Zhenya’s breast. “You hurt?”

“Little bit,” Zhenya murmured, and Sid didn’t hesitate as he pressed his lips to the skin soothingly. It was warm and smooth. Sid pulled back enough to look at him: Zhenya was pink across his chest and tender-looking, his nipples dusky pink and swollen. It was the least Sid could do. Zhenya hadn’t eaten him, after all, and he had fed Sid and sheltered him even though he didn’t have to. Sid could have left many times, but he didn’t want to. 

Sid planted another kiss to Zhenya’s skin, dragging his nose across it. Zhenya cradled the back of his head, guiding him down until he found the bud and latched, sucking at the soft peak. Warm liquid seeped into his mouth as he suckled, some of it seeping out the corners of his lips. Zhenya combed his fingers through Sid’s hair, the repetitive motion lulling him further. The milk--if that’s what it really was-- was thin. It didn’t have much of a taste but it filled Sid’s core with a comforting warmth. It felt like Zhenya had pierced the soft yolk of his heart and now Sid was left to let it dribble out. 

The hand not cradling his head brushed over Sid’s back, playing over the hills and valleys from his shoulder to his hip. The touch lit up a hot streak in his body. There was no denying the way his cock stirred at Zhenya’s touch, still trapped within his pants. Sid pressed himself to the length of Zhenya’s thigh, easing some of the pressure. He shifted restlessly as fingertips danced along his waistband and made his stomach quiver. Finally, Zhenya cupped him, squeezing him gently, and Sid pressed into it, breaking away to let out a soft noise before sucking intently as he rutted against Zhenya’s palm.

“You like this?” Zhenya whispered to him and all Sid could do was hum against him, loath to let go again, even for a second. “I hear you at night, so loud. Think you might want to try.” 

Sid’s cheeks were on fire, burning with want as he rubbed his dick insistently against Zhenya’s palm. He could feel the wetness inside his breeches; his dick felt heavy with it. He had imagined so many times what Zhenya would taste like, feel like.

Reaching for the fastening of Sid’s pants, Zhenya pulled at the thong until the strip of leather loosened and Zhenya’s hand, warm and dry, slipped inside his pants. He cradled Sid’s entire cock in his fist, rolling his balls, rubbing at the underside. Sid’s gut felt molten and tight. Nothing was quite enough to quench the feeling and he squirmed as Zhenya stroked him. 

Zhenya’s thumb traveled up, tracing the vein and finding the head, pushing the foreskin down to rub at the frenulum till Sid’s knees felt shaky. Pulling away, Sid moaned imagining the gold that must be smeared across his face. Shifting over Zhenya, Sid found his other nipple with his lips and latched onto it, hot and tender in his mouth. His knees splayed over Zhenya’s thigh, suckling as Zhenya grasped him firmly, his fingers slick with Sid’s precome. It made it easy to thrust into the tight channel of Zhenya’s fist, rocking his hips until it was too much and Sid tipped over the edge with a groan, spilling warm and wet all over Zhenya’s fingers. Zhenya held him and Sid’s hips bucked with the last few aftershocks. 

Chest heaving, Sid pushed himself up to get a look at Zhenya, his chest pink and wet from Sid’s saliva and his cock red and dotted with Sid’s come. It lay fat against his stomach, and just looking at it made Sid’s mouth water. 

Zhenya reached up and wiped the corner of Sid’s mouth, his thumb coming away gold. It hovered there and Sid sucked it into his mouth, watching Zhenya’s dazed expression. Sid knew how he looked, the comments people made about his lips, and hollowed his cheeks. He could taste the saltiness of his own come and rubbed his tongue against the soft pad of Zhenya’s thumb just to hear him gasp. 

Pulling off with a wet pop and settling down between his legs, Sid lifted Zhenya’s cock away from his belly, stiff and shiny. Licking at his gold-smeared mouth, he dropped it to Zhenya’s cock, wondering if that would leak gold too. Zhenya’s fingers carded into his curls and gripped, holding him fast as Sid sucked him wetly. Sid also knew he had a good mouth; he had gotten many compliments before from men and women alike. _“Hungry,”_ someone had called him once. But right now none of that praise compared to the weighty feeling of Zhenya inside him or the moans above him as Sid brought Zhenya to the cusp with his lips and the twist of his tongue. He sank down until his nose brushed the curls at the base of Zhenya’s cock, and held himself there until his eyes watered. He pulled back to catch his breath and did it again until the back of his throat was thick with Zhenya’s precome. 

Sid let small sounds escape with every draw. He couldn’t help it; he liked it so much. He could probably get hard again just from the drag of Zhenya against his cheeks and the pad of his tongue. Nursing at the soft head, Sid pushed Zhenya over with one last long suck, wrapping his lips tightly around the swollen shaft and watching from beneath his eyelashes as Zhenya grunted, head tipped back, exposing the long line of his neck as he filled Sid’s mouth with his warm release. Sid swallowed that down too, greedily, chasing what spilled out of his mouth with his lips. 

Zhenya sighed in contentment as Sid let him grow soft in his mouth. He liked the weight and feel of it and took advantage of the opportunity for as long as Zhenya would let him. So often Sid’s experiences were rushed, especially with other men. Sid let his eyes drift shut. If Zhenya would let him lie there with his soft cock nestled between Sid’s lips, Sid wasn't about to protest. 

Eventually, long fingers combed through his hair, rubbing at his scalp, Sid moaned around his mouthful and was carefully pulled away. He had left a wet mess between Zhenya’s thighs. Sid wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. He could only imagine what he must look like. 

“Do you feel better?” Sid asked, meeting Zhenya’s eyes and watching them crinkle. 

“Yes, much. Thank you,” he said, before adding. “Sleep here,” when Sid started to pull away. He wasn’t about to protest. The nest felt so much nicer than the floor. Pushing his breeches the rest of the way down and off, Sid watched as Zhenya shifted, shuffling his body over to curl around his babies and tuck them under his wing. Sid nestled himself under there as well, curled up against Zhenya’s side. It was warm and cozy and Sid felt his eyelids droop as he began to drift, but there was one more thing on his mind. 

“Are there more like you being kept inside the castle?” 

Zhenya let out a long sigh before he answered. _“Yes, there are a few being kept for the purpose of one day building an army. They were stolen from many lands and kingdoms.”_

Sid’s brow furrowed. “The people who have been attacking the castle, it was to get their children back?” 

Zhenya made a rumbling noise Sid could feel reverberate through his rib cage. 

“Do you think they can be freed, too?” Sid asked. 

_“Yes, if someone brave was willing to try.”_

Sid curled up along Zhenya’s side, resting his hand over one massive rib. _He had his next quest._


End file.
